"They asked 'why do you take supplies to the infidelAmericans?'. They said 'you are an American informer'," he toldReuters at a massive makeshift truckers' parking lot thatstretches for miles (km) along the coast in Pakistan's biggestcity, Karachi.

"They made me recite Koranic verses, quizzed me on howMuslims pray. When they let me go they told me to grow a beard.I am scared and I don't like it but I have to earn (money)."

The al Qaeda-linked Taliban routinely open fire on trucks.Casualties are limited, but the attacks are dramatic. Bulletspuncture fuel tanks, igniting huge fires.

Militants also set off homemade bombs to destroy containertrucks packed with food, clothes and other items for NATO.

Over 1,000 vehicles have been destroyed by militants orcriminal gangs in the last decade, according to the All PakistanOil Tankers Association.

Still, thousands of drivers are itching to get back to workto fetch 20,000-25,000 rupees ($215-269) per round trip.

To break the monotony, they play cards on cloth sheetsspread on the dusty ground, listen to music and repair and painttheir run-down vehicles. Some just sleep the time away in theshade of their trucks.

"DESPICABLE, FORBIDDEN" INCOME

The November NATO attack and Pakistan's closure of theroutes - which account for just under one-third of all cargothat NATO moves into Afghanistan - plunged ties betweenIslamabad and Washington to their lowest point in years.

The supply lines are considered vital to the plannedwithdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan before theend of 2014.

U.S. and Pakistani negotiators are deadlocked on transitfees for container and fuel trucks. Pakistani officials havedenied reports Islamabad is demanding unreasonable amounts.

Idle drivers care little about Pakistan's stance, or effortsto repair ties with the United States, the source of billions ofdollars in aid. It all comes down to their own bottom line.

"The United States is responsible for killing our soldiers.The culprits should be shot dead," said Mohammed Nawaz, 24,looking across a sea of trucks. "I consider the money made fromdriving NATO trucks despicable, forbidden. But I'm desperate."

NATO, for its part, has been diversifying its supply linesinto Afghanistan.

After a string of disruptions, the alliance and the U.S.military decided to reduce their reliance on Pakistan, turninginstead to routes that pass through either Russia or theCaucasus across central Asia into northern Afghanistan.

That could spell bad news for those drivers who have becomeshady entrepreneurs of danger along the two routes throughPakistan - one across the Khyber Pass to Kabul, and anothercrossing the Baluchistan province to Kandahar.

Senior officials at the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Associationsaid some destroy their own trucks and claim it was a Talibanattack to collect insurance money.

"The fight is all about money, at every level. Thegovernments, the Americans, the workers (truck drivers)," saidShafiq Kakar, a senior member of the association.

Some truckers stage explosions and pretend NATO goods arelost in attacks, then sell part of the consignment to traders,said association officials.

"I am praying that NATO supplies are resumed soon so that mybusiness can take off again," said one trader in thenorthwestern city of Peshawar who does business with corrupttruckers and contractors.

"A lot of the material stolen from containers, especiallyuniforms and boots, is (even) bought by the Taliban's people."